A/N:Well, hopefully I'vefixedall the formatting issues from last upload. Happy reading!
Wow! I actually need a "Thank the reviewers" section! Cool!
TenchiKai and Kitoru-san: Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it. And look, I updated quickly, just for you!
Ice Dagger: Your reviews always encourage me to write more! Thank you for reviewing; even though you're my beta reader, it means a lot. If anyone's reading this, go check out Ice Dagger's stories "Three Knights" (Suikoden III), "Forest Children" (Inuyasha).
Disclaimer: Hey! I get guest stars!
Riku: If by "guest stars" you mean people that you tied to chairs . . .(tries to escape ropes)
A28: My Riku! (Huggles)
Riku: So . . .why am I here?
A28: For the disclaimer.
Riku: Oh. (Turns his head toward readers) Though she may wish otherwise, she sure as heck doesn't own me.
A28: Sad, but true.
Riku: And she doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, either.
A28: (Waves him on, too heart-broken to continue)
Riku: But she does own Amaya.
A28: Unfortunately, Amaya is not a sexy guy, like Riku or Leon or Cloud, or . . .
Riku: --; Let's stop right there, shall we? And get me off this chair!
A28: (Smiles) Unh-unh!
Chapter 6: One Small Problem"Sora . . .I don't understand. Why didn't it restore the worlds?"
"I don't know," he answered gloomily. "I shut the doors like I was supposed to. I even made it to the final door—Kingdom Hearts—and closed that one, too."
I gave his hand a squeeze. I knew the crash of disappointment that he was feeling. He had gone through all that trouble, traveling to so many worlds to find a way to close the final door.
And now we were back where we started. Well, not quite. The worlds were restored, in a way, but there were a lot of things that were still wrong. The Heartless were still around for one thing. Not as powerful as they had been after Kingdom Hearts had been opened, but still enough to worry us. They should have been gone. The worlds, and all the people, should have been restored to the way they were, all closed off. But they weren't. They were still open, and . . .some people hadn't come back.
Suddenly, Sora stopped, right in front of me, so fast I almost ran into him. His shoulders were bent, and he was looking straight at the cobblestones when I heard him mumble, "Kairi, how did I screw up so bad?"
"Sora?"
"I shut him in that place . . .alone. I thought . . .I thought after I closed it, and the worlds were restored, he would be back on the island. With us. With everyone. Did I . . .did I kill him?"
Tears were worming their way into his voice, making it harsh and brittle. His shoulders started shaking, "Did I kill my best friend?"
I let go of his hand so I could hug him close to me, "No, Sora. You thought . . .we all thought that he would be coming back with us."
He sobbed, "That doesn't change the fact that he's gone! And I didn't even hesitate! I just said, 'Okay', and handed him a death sentence right on a plate!"
Luckily I was holding him too close for him to see my surprise. I knew he felt guilty, but I didn't think it was anything like this.
"You did not, Sora. Riku's going to be all right. That's why we're here, right? To see Leon and Aerith and Yuffie, and to save Riku!"
He nodded against my damp shoulder, taking shuddering breaths, "I'm sorry Kairi, I know I shouldn't have fallen apart like that . . ."
"Hey, I'm here to help you however I can. Let's just face it," I said, smiling, "You need all the help you can get!"
He let out a watery laugh onto my shoulder, "Gee, thanks a lot Kairi."
"Like I said, always here to help."
He unwrapped his arms from my waist and rubbed as his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to banish any moisture that was still handing on his eyelashes. Then, with his trademark grin, "I know."
I took his hand back in mine and we walked toward the small house in Third District, "Let's just hope they're still around . . ."
My mouth gaped open. Small house? Did I say small house? They must have done some major renovation here, because I didn't remember it looking like that!
Sora muttered out the side of his mouth, "Are you sure this is the right house?"
I nodded mutely.
"Then where'd all the extra rooms come from?"
I shrugged, "We can ask them once we get inside," I knocked on the door before continuing, "It's freezing out here!" Rubbing my arms for emphasis.
"Then why do you wear those little skirts all the time?"
I sashayed wickedly, "You never used to complain about these skirts before . . ." I watched the look on his face before innocently continuing, "If you don't like them I think I have some sweatpants or something . . ."
He pouted, "Hey, I wasn't complaining," and pulled me back against him.
I giggled, "I know, but I couldn't pass that up," and kissed his nose.
"Ahem."
We turned around, and noticed Leon staring at us from the doorway, "Ummm, hi!"
He raised an eyebrow, "You knocked, didn't you?"
"Oh," I said, pulling free of Sora's embrace. Darn it, he was warm. "Yeah, we did. Sorry to keep you waiting there."
He just shrugged and walked back into the house. Since he didn't slam the door, we took it as an invitation to come in.
"Sora! Kairi!" Cried Yuffie, launching herself off the sofa and grabbing us in a group hug, "How ya been?"
"Yuffie . . .can't . . .breathe . . ."
"Oh, right!"
As usual Mr. Grumpster—I mean, Leon—wasted no time with pleasantries, "You know that the worlds haven't been restored."
The smiles faded, "Yeah," Sora started, "That's why we—Kairi and I—came back here. We thought, you know, you guys might know something about it."
"Nope. We're clueless!" Yuffie admitted, grinning her head off. I think it annoyed Leon that she looked so happy about it, but that was just how she was. Come to think of it . . .does she know how not to grin?
"You don't have any idea of why, Sora?" Asked Aerith, walking in from the hallway.
He hung his head, "No."
"But we're gonna find out, right Sora?" I squeezed his hand.
He nodded, "Right!"
"Ummm, anyway . . ." I ventured, "Did you guys remodel or something?"
Aerith laughed, "You could say that. Actually, the other rooms behind us had been attached to the house at some point, but someone built a wall over the doorway, blocking it off. After the incident with . . .well, never mind that . . ." Sora and I looked at each other, but Aerith ignored us and continued, "We discovered that the space behind the wall was hollow! All the extra rooms needed was a little cleaning up. Let me give you a tour!"
Yuffie's voice echoed sinisterly after us as Aerith led us down the hallway, "Oh, I should have warned you—Aerith's new hobby is interior decorating!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After what felt like an hour of oohing and ahhing and "Those colors complement each other so well," and "What great window treatments," we were finally allowed to escape. I flopped down on the living room couch, "Uggh."
Yuffie laughed at me, and even Leon "coughed" into his hand. I stuck out my bottom lip—I do not pout—and crossed my arms over my chest, "What are you laughing at?"
Yuffie waved her hand, "Just be glad you weren't here while the decorating was going on," Yuffie grabbed a pillow and, in an obvious impersonation of Aerith, said, "Now guys, be honest. What would go better with this fabric, olive or sea foam?"
This time I laughed with her, but Leon got right back to business, "Why don't you stay here a while, Sora?"
"Huh?"
"It'll be easier to find information here than it would be on your island, right? So you can stay here while you get some leads."
"Oh, uh, thanks, Leon."
He just grunted and nodded, probably deciding to ignore everyone for the rest of the night. Just then I heard a girl's voice yelp. I jumped up, reaching for my keyblade, but paused when Yuffie and Leon didn't move. Hadn't they heard it? I opened my mouth to ask when I heard, "Don't sneak up on me like that!"
I looked questioningly at Yuffie, who just rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, Sora, it's just Cloud. Mr. Silent gets his kicks by sneaking up on people. Especially poor defenseless Aeriths. And then it's just better to steer clear, unless you want to watch them make out."
I shook my head quickly and sat back down.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was dark and so cold. So cold. I couldn't see anything, just light and dark and shapes that might have been worlds or might have just been shadows. Then images.
The library. The sun setting on an ocean. A small, brown haired boy. A door without a doorknob, in a cave. A figure in a black cloak. A woman in black. A young girl . . .Kairi? The girl, older, lying frighteningly still. Ansem. His mouth moving, without sound. Ansem in the library, with me. Ansem staring out the window, after I'd asked him about the other worlds. Ansem with a strange sword in his hands. The brown-haired boy again. Ansem smiling, reaching down to ruffle my hair. Ansem, his face bathed in light.
Some of those were mine. I knew others weren't. Who was the brown-haired boy? Who was the woman in black? What was that sword Ansem had? Had that young girl been Kairi?
Darkness is the heart's true essence. You cannot deny it. Return to the darkness!
Other images. More than I could count. Coming too fast. A blood red ball in the sky, spewing clouds of noxious purple. Screams. The Heartless. Women, girls, their faces frozen, lying inside glass coffins. Princesses. We need one more heart to . . .More screams, rising higher and higher in pitch, as I saw trees obliterated, islands sinking into the oceans around them, cities cracking apart at the foundations. A million voices screaming, and then utter silence.
Something cold and hard beneath my cheek. Stone. I moved my head and saw Riku, still holding my hand, out cold. Lights. Blinding lights. Buildings. Balconies. Traverse Town.
I half-slithered closer, wrapping an arm around him and snuggling against him. We made it, Riku. Everything's going to be all right. But sleep would be good now. Very good.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He raised his eyebrow at her, "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, playing hide-and-seek or something?"
"I don't want to," she pouted, "I want to hang out with you!"
He sighed expansively, while Aeris chided him, "Oh, don't be such a grump, Squall," she smiled at Amaya, "We're just going down to the waterfalls, but if you'd like to come, you can."
Amaya nodded quickly, anything to be allowed near Squall. Boys were dumb, but, as she had quickly explained to her grandmother, Squall and Papa didn't really count as boys. Boys were noisy and annoying, and wouldn't let her join in anything just because she was a girl. Papa and Squall didn't do that.
And there was something about Squall that made her heart beat fast, and her laughter come out high and giggly, and made her draw hearts and write "Amaya Leonhart" all over everything. Well, anything that no one would look at, anyway. It had to stay top secret, until she was a grown-up and old enough to marry him.
"Fine, come on. But if you get tired, you're just going to have to tough it out. I'm not going to carry you."
"Okay!" She quickly agreed, running past all the cooing girls to latch on to Squall's hand.
"How cute!" Tittered the girls. Squall didn't look at them, or at the child at his side, but he didn't tear his hand away. And as they made their way down the rocks, he always turned around to help her hop the really big jumps.
When they got to the bottom, they all stripped down to their swimsuits and jumped into the sun-warmed water. Squall laughed, splash fighting with some of the guys, until they accidentally splashed a girl with dark brown hair. She stormed over with every intention of giving them a piece of her mind, but Squall just pulled her over and kissed her.
Amaya had been swimming in the shallower water with some of the older girls, holding their own splash war, on a much smaller scale. But she saw Rinoa, one of her chief playmates, swim over to the boys, and had watched as she kissed Squall and failed to come back to their group.
Amaya touched one of the girls' arms, "Selphie?"
"Yeah?"
"Is Rinoa going to marry Squall?"
Selphie smiled, "Umm, I don't think so. At least not anytime soon."
"Good."
She tilted her head to one side, "Why?"
She formed a tunnel around her mouth with her hands and whispered loudly, "Can you keep a secret?"
Selphie nodded and made a great show of leaning her ear down to the little girl, "Because I'm going to marry him, when I'm a grown-up."
"Really?" Selphie whispered conspiratorially, "Can I come to the wedding?"
Amaya nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, but don't tell Squall yet, okay?"
"You're secret's safe with me, kiddo!"
They swam until the sun started sinking in the sky, and decided they had to start back up the rocks before it got too dark. After helping her squeegee out her hair, Selphie wrapped a colorful towel around her, but, forgetting to thank her, Amaya quickly ran ahead and wedged herself between Squall and Rinoa, grabbing Squall's hand. When Rinoa took her other, she didn't complain. After all, Rinoa was really nice. She just couldn't marry Squall.
It didn't take long, though, before her feet grew heavy, and she tripped more and more. She stopped jumping the rocks and started laboriously climbing. But she wouldn't ask for help, even as her eyelids started drooping. She started when the two hands she'd been holding withdrew, but then she saw Squall squat down, his back toward her, "Climb up."
She was too tired to argue, and, truth be told, she didn't want to, so she clamored up loosely wrapping her arms around her neck. It wasn't long before the weight on his back became limp, the little girl lost in sleep.